All posts tagged "donald trump jr."

'Sit this one out': MAGA melts down over big-name Dem's op-ed blasting Trump

MAGA fans melted down Friday at Chelsea Clinton after she blasted President Donald Trump in an op-ed, telling her to "sit this one out."

Clinton, the former first daughter of Bill and Hillary Clinton, wrote a personal piece for USA Today and described spending her "formative years living in the White House, I always knew it wasn’t my house. It was my home, absolutely, but not my house."

She ripped Trump's most recent demolition of the historic building and called out the significance amid the current political turmoil, referring to the moment as "embarrassing," adding that the "disregard for history is a defining trait of President Trump’s second administration."

"The erasure of the East Wing isn't just about marble or plaster — it's about President Trump again taking a wrecking ball to our heritage, while targeting our democracy, and the rule-of-law," she wrote.

MAGA reactions rolled in on social media:

"Lol, your parents tried stealing furniture and silverware from the White House… and let’s not talk about the intern. Sit this one out," Donald Trump Jr. wrote on X.

"You might want to sit this one out, Chelsea. Your dad had sex in the 'people’s' Oval Office and your mom ripped off the furniture and fine china when she left," retired Air Force pilot and MAGA personality Buzz Patterson wrote on X.

"All the East Wing meltdowns are funny but the Chelsea Clinton take is almost too much. We don't deserve their unabashed idiocy and lack of self-awareness. Feeling grateful," MAGA influencer Grace Curley wrote on X.

"I’m 'unsettled' that the news media think Chelsea Clinton’s opinion on *anything* is newsworthy. Chelsea Clinton is 'unsettled' by Trump renovations," Ohio Attorney General David Yost wrote on X.

'Frustrated': Donald Trump Jr. raging over friend with 'destructive information' about him

Donald Trump Jr. is privately fuming over a college friend who has "destructive information" about the president's son, according to new reporting.

The conservative Wall Street Journal released a deep-dive report late on Saturday night on Gentry Beach, "a college friend of the president’s firstborn" who "has left a trail of confusion abroad" as he touts his connections to the First Family.

According to the Journal, Beach has been using Trump Jr.'s name in business dealings but stopping short of claiming to be representing the president's son. The result has been foreign officials looking into Beach and whether he is exaggerating the connections.

"The president of the Democratic Republic of Congo sat with a veteran U.S. diplomat recently in a hillside villa overlooking Kinshasa to resolve a question that had been troubling him. A Texas investor named Gentry Beach was regularly touring Central Africa, trying to purchase mining concessions as part of an 'economic diplomacy' campaign he credited to President Trump. Beach had let it be known he was friends with Donald Trump Jr., showing what senior Congolese officials described as text messages with the U.S. president’s eldest son, and their photos together. Did he speak for the Trump administration?" the report states. "Thousands of miles away, Pakistan’s government had been asking the same question. Beach—a groomsman at Trump Jr.’s 2005 wedding—had traveled to Islamabad to meet with the prime minister, promising to invest billions of dollars mining critical minerals and building what he told reporters would be 'some of the most high-end luxury properties that have ever existed' in the South Asian country. 'I’ve been very close with the Trump administration for a long time,' he added."

The globetrotting name-dropper isn't just ruffling international feathers. The president's son is reportedly privately frustrated, and has even sent a cease and desist letter.

"Trump Jr., who declined to comment, has privately told people he is frustrated with his old friend. While abroad, Trump Jr. has found himself fending off foreign officials who told him they had heard from Beach that the president’s son was interested in doing business in their countries, according to people familiar with Trump Jr.’s travels. Trump Jr. rejected the inquiries and said he wasn’t doing business with Beach," according to the report. "In August, Trump Jr.’s lawyer sent a cease-and-desist letter to Beach to stop representing himself as a business partner of Trump Jr. Beach denied ever receiving or seeing the letter."

The Journal takes care to note that "Trump Jr. has never publicly distanced himself from Beach," before quoting Beach as saying he had "destructive" information about his friend from college.

"Over the course of nearly four hours of interviews, Beach spoke at length about his relationship with the president’s son. Asked how the two of them met, Beach smiled: 'Don has laughingly said many times that we’ve known each other so long, any information we have is mutually destructive,' he said," the report states. "'He knows that I’ll always be a loyal friend.'"

Read the report here.

FBI tracked ex-director James Comey after 'silly' social media post: report

Former FBI Director James Comey was given the Secret Service treatment usually reserved for "serious threats" after posting a seashell photo to Instagram with the numbers "86 47."

The New York Times reported Wednesday that the post captioned, "Cool shell formation on my beach walk," led to federal law enforcement surreptitiously tailing his car while agents tracked his cellphone.

Comey described the post as "silly" and said he was unaware of the meaning that MAGA ascribed to the numbers.

"86" is slang for throwing someone out, getting rid of them, or refusing them service, according to Merriam-Webster. Forty-seven was interpreted by some as Donald Trump, the 47th president of the United States.

Donald Trump Jr. left no doubt about his interpretation.

"Just James Comey causally calling for my dad to be murdered. This is who the Dem-Media worships. Demented!!!!" he posted to X.

Comey later deleted the post and issued a statement on Instagram saying, "I posted earlier a picture of some shells I saw today on a beach walk, which I assumed were a political message. I didn't realize some folks associated those numbers with violence. It never occurred to me but I oppose violence of any kind so I took the post down."

Trump famously fired Comey over the "Russiagate probe" during his first administration.

Read The New York Times article here.

'Not good ganja!' Ex-RNC chair warns against Eric Trump presidency

Michael Steele, the former chair of the Republican National Committee and current MSNBC host, referenced marijuana when asked about Eric Trump's political ambitions.

Chris Jansing began Monday, "So, Michael, there is so much confidence in the power of Trump and the Trump name, his son Eric's interview with the Financial Times ignited talk of a potential Trump dynasty."

Jansing read a portion of the report where Eric Trump claimed that "the political path" for a family dynasty "would be an easy one," opening the door for another Trump to seek office after his father leaves the White House.

"'I think I could do it," Jansing read Eric's words. "And by the way, I think other members of our family could do it, too."

Eric Trump's wife, Lara, who hosts a show on Fox News after a brief stint as head of the RNC, could make that dynasty a reality. Rumors have swirled that she'll run for Sen. (R-NC) Tom Tillis's seat in next year's midtermelections, since he announced he won't run again.

Eric Trump "also said he's wholly unimpressed by half the politicians I see," Jansing read, with Eric adding, "I could do it very effectively."

"You know, if Americans are drunk on stupid, yeah, Eric Trump is your next president," Steele said. "Put that one in your pipe and smoke it. That's not some good ganja, let me tell you!"

Steele continued, sarcastically, "Sure, why not? You know, let's expand the grift. Let's widen the opportunity!"

He then got serious.

"Look, this is all unserious stuff," Steele remarked before talking about the impact a Trump dynasty would have on "real people."

"It's on the members of my party, the Republican Party, that have agreed to cut programs that they told the American people they would not cut, to expand the reach and the depth and breadth of dollars for to the benefit of those who are much, far wealthier than those red districts that they that they represent. And they will have to now look those voters in the eye, and they'll either continue to lie to them, and the voters will buy it, or they won't, and they'll unelect them. That's the politics of this."

Read the Financial Times article here.

Trump official rakes in $280M tax free with 'ethics agreement': report

President Donald Trump's commerce secretary Howard Lutnick is emulating his boss by transferring away "his ownership interests in multiple affiliated companies" to trusts that will benefit his adult children, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

Lutnick, a billionaire, served as chairman and chief executive of financial-services firm Cantor Fitzgerald until he was appointed to Trump's cabinet in February.

In keeping with "a government ethics agreement," Lutnick created the trusts to benefit sons Brandon Lutnick and Kyle Lutnick, "as well as Lutnick’s other adult children."

In addition, former Cantor Fitzgerald affiliates "agreed to buy back more than 16.4 million shares of its stock from Lutnick," leaving him $151.5 million richer.

Add to that $127 million from real-estate adviser Newmark Group, which agreed to buy back 11 million shares from Lutnick, the company's former executive chairman.

EXCLUSIVE: Trump accused of new grift that puts Qatari plane in shade

"Lutnick won’t have to pay capital gains taxes on the sales as long as he puts the proceeds into Treasuries or a broadly based mutual fund — assets that don’t pose a conflict of interest," Bloomberg reported.

Brandon Lutnick, who serves as chief executive officer of Cantor Fitzgerald said in a statement, “Kyle and I are honored to continue building on our father’s legacy, leading Cantor Fitzgerald alongside the exceptional executive team we have in place today."

Donald Trump has come under fire for remaining in charge of his businesses despite transferring his assets to "a trust managed by his children while he is working overtime to lead the country to economic prosperity," according to a White House spokesperson.

The New York Times reported this month that sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. have raked in billions of dollars in recent deals that "directly benefit the president."

The deals include a luxury hotel in Dubai, a residential tower in Saudi Arabia, two cryptocurrency ventures, a new golf course complex in Qatar, and a new private club in Washington that "will personally benefit not only Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., but also President Trump himself," the Times reported.

Read The Wall Street Journal story here.

Trump's favorite newspaper fears he may be neck-deep in 'Hunter Biden-style scandal'

President Donald Trump's once favorite daily tabloid, The New York Post, set off alarm bells Monday over his "questionable" cryptocurrency dealings that threaten a "Hunter Biden-style scandal at the White House."

Reporters Thomas Barrabi and Isabel Vincent cited experts who concluded "Donald Trump risks undercutting his presidency with a Hunter Biden-style influence-peddling scandal unless he clamps down on questionable crypto deals."

The story took aim at Trump's "latest apparent conflict of interest" involving a Chinese e-commerce firm pledging to buy up to $300 million of $TRUMP meme coins. The Post also cited another case of a Chinese billionaire investing $75 million in Trump's World Liberty Financial that lists Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump as top executives.

Trump is currently considering plans to allow Chinese-run TikTok "to stay online in the US despite Congress’s ban," the story said.

EXCLUSIVE: Trump accused of new grift that puts Qatari plane in shade

“I think that the president’s involvement in crypto ventures creates a very easy opportunity for the president to engage in pay to play politics using crypto and vice versa for foreign actors," the paper quoted cryptocurrency expert Mark Hays with Americans for Financial Reform. "There are many ways to move money quickly and opaquely that will not show up on a balance sheet.”

Former lawmaker Charlie Dent (R-PA), who served as chairman of the House Ethics Committee, told the Post, “There’s certainly a parallel to Hunter Biden, who traded off his father’s name while he was vice president."

Dent continued, “You have to start with the president telling his family what they can and cannot do and what lines cannot be crossed. It has to come from him. If the shoe were on the other foot, Republicans would be screaming bloody murder over this stuff.”

The Post article cited a report in Fortune saying that "nearly 40% of Trump’s overall net worth, or the equivalent of $2.9 billion," are due to his crypto holdings.

White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly told the Post, “President Trump’s assets are in a trust managed by his children. There are no conflicts of interest.”

Read The New York Post story here.

'Man up!' MAGA in panic mode after GOP senator tanks key Trump nominee's chances

Word that President Donald Trump's troublesome nominee for D.C.'s top prosecutor may fail to get enough support among Senate Republicans has MAGA in full panic mode that's led them to ramp up the pressure campaign in person and on social media.

Tuesday night, the president reportedly made call after call to Republican senators urging them to support interim U.S. attorney Ed Martin's bid for the permanent position.

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) may have hammered the nail in Martin's coffin on Tuesday.

“I’ve indicated to the White House I wouldn’t support his nomination,” Tillis said after meeting with Martin — a "Stop the Steal" organizer and J6 supporter — on Monday night.

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Joyce Vance, who served as the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, wrote in her Substack, "Before Martin goes to the floor of the Senate for a confirmation vote, he has to make it out of committee. And that’s unlikely to happen now. The Senate Judiciary Committee is made up of 12 Republicans and 10 Democrats. All of the Democrats oppose Martin. With Tillis abandoning him, the best Martin could do is 11-11, and a nominee who receives a tie vote doesn’t advance. For all practical purposes, the outcome of that vote will be a death knell for his nomination."

But MAGA isn't giving up yet.

Donald Trump Jr. posted to social media Wednesday morning, "How can any supposed 'Republican' justify voting to confirm leftist thug Merrick Garland, but oppose voting to confirm @EagleEdMartin? Drain the DC Swamp. Confirm Ed Martin for US Attorney in DC!"

J6 defendant John Strand took aim at Tillis, writing, "I was sentenced to nearly 3 years in prison—not for violence on J6, but for standing my ground and refusing to bow to a rigged political prosecution. Now Senator Thom Tillis wants to block Ed Martin—one of the few fighting for real justice. We see you, @SenThomTillis."

Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) wrote, "77 million Americans voted for President Trump and his America First Agenda. Get on board, or get out of the way. CONFIRM ED MARTIN."

MAGA reporter Nick Sortor posted, "Sen. Thom Tillis has informed the White House he will NOT vote to confirm Ed Martin as U.S. Attorney for DC What the hell are you doing, @SenThomTillis??! Ed Martin has been VITAL in fulfilling Trump’s goal to clean up DC. VOTE TO CONFIRM ED MARTIN!"

Turning Point USA's Charlie Kirk called for Tillis's ouster following his revelation, writing, "If Thom Tillis wont vote Ed Martin out of committee then he needs to be REMOVED from the committee and replaced with someone that will vote to confirm. Its not that tough, @LeaderJohnThune. Man up and do what needs to be done."

CNN reported Wednesday that Martin "did not appear on the agenda for the Senate Judiciary Committee’s meeting Thursday – a key deadline for him to be confirmed by May 20, when his interim position expires."

'Unprecedented': Report sounds warning over role of Truth Social in Trump world

President Donald Trump's Truth Social platform was slammed as an "unsuccessful and money-losing Twitter competitor" in a Mother Jones article Tuesday.

Yet to him, it remains a valuable tool keeping his cash flow moving and his administration in line, the report claimed.

According to senior reporter Anna Merlan, "The company that owns TruthSocial, Trump Media & Technology Group, has also been a way for the president to draw his political allies closer, through payments, board seats, and generous stock rewards."

The Trumps see the company as a sort of piggy bank, with Merlan writing, "TMTG paid Donald Trump Jr. $813,000, a quarter of TMTG’s 2024 annual revenue, 'just for showing up at board meetings,'" and "CEO Devin Nunes, a former California Republican congressman, has made at least $6.3 million running the company since 2022 — 'a stunning figure for a firm that is struggling to earn any money.'"

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Merlan writes that the publicly-traded TMTG "is unlikely to ever become a real success outside of the Trump universe," but it provides a valuable service to those seeking a window into Trump's transactional presidency and how he and his administration dabble in "unprecedented mingling of his corporate and political fiefdoms."

For example, Merlan writes that "three people who have held shares or served on the board of TMTG have been appointed to high-profile positions in the Trump administration: Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI director Kash Patel, and Secretary of Education Linda McMahon." Trump has appointed "at least four others with TMTG ties to federal roles," Merlan writes, but none has filed paperwork to divest from the company as they promised to.

Tony Carrk, the executive director of the government watchdog Accountable U.S., told Mother Jones, “The unprecedented situation of president Trump rewarding investors and executives in his media company with administration jobs sends a clear message to the wealthy, corporate lobbyists and foreign interests that the road to influence in the United States runs through Trump Media."

He continues, “No one should be surprised that president Trump’s first weeks in office have been about removing barriers to corruption and dismantling oversight, not about lowering costs for working families. Trump cares more about lining his own pockets and his wealthy friends’ than putting money back into yours.”

Read the Mother Jones article here.

'Feels more real': Granddaughter Kai may be Trump's secret weapon for next gen GOP

Donald Trump's teenaged granddaughter Kai Trump is being credited with "humanizing" the president she calls "just a normal grandpa," and acting as a White House conduit to the next generation of Republicans.

The 17-year-old social media influencer is the eldest child of Donald Trump Jr. and ex-wife Vanessa Trump. In a Washington Post profile, she is described as the "Gen Z White House vlogger" who gives an unprecedented look behind the political scenes to her more than six million followers.

"In her most-watched YouTube vlog, Kai recorded herself doing Trump’s signature dance aboard Trump Force One with her friend Emma on their way to a SpaceX rocket launch in November, where she later mingled with lawmakers and asked Musk whether he had ever played the popular video game 'Fortnite,'" according to the article.

ALSO READ: 'Not much I can do': GOP senator gives up fight against Trump's tariffs

Author Kate Andersen Brower told the Post, “Kai serves a unique role because she humanizes her grandfather in a way that feels very authentic. And frankly, because of his harsh stances on so many issues, he can use that softening.”

Brower added that "Kai is in many ways playing that role" of first lady, since Melania Trump has skirted the Washington spotlight.

“She’s not as guarded as Melania. And she’s clearly great on camera,” Brower said.

Kai built her initial social media following as a student athlete, who has already committed to play golf for the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. And, "thanks to endorsement deals and sponsorships, her personal brand or NIL — name, image and likeness — as a college athlete is already estimated at over $1.2 million."

After her "political debut" at the 2024 Republican National Convention, it's been full steam ahead for Kai's career in the public eye, whatever that may be.

The Post reported that Republican strategists are looking to influencers like Kai "as a new entry point for young women into the party." Her videos "reach very different corners of the internet than other types of Trump content, serving to create an online identity that, despite her fame and family, feels familiar to other young people — regardless of their politics."

Read The Washington Post article.

They gave him 'the finger!' Greenland lawmaker mocks Trump Jr.'s warm welcome claims

Donald Trump Jr.'s brief visit to Greenland on Wednesday wasn't all smiles and MAGA hats — some locals even gave the president's son the middle finger, according to a senior Greenlandic politician.

Pipaluk Lynge, an MP from Greenland’s largest party, told Politico on Thursday that journalists were kept away from the U.S. President-elect's son and were not allowed to ask him any questions.

"His welcome was not entirely warm," Lynge told the publication. “People were curious, but some took pictures giving him [the] finger at the airport … Some wrote on Facebook: yankee go home."

Still, President-elect Donald Trump's Truth Social feed showed smiling people wearing red MAGA hats, as he posted that his son's reception "has been great."

Lynge told Politico, “It was all staged to make it seem like we — the Greenlandic people — were MAGA and love to be a part of the USA."

ALSO READ: Trump intel advisor Devin Nunes still dismisses Russian election meddling as a 'hoax'

Trump Jr. arrived in Greenland's capital, Nuuk, on Wednesday on a "Trump" branded plane as part of a "personal" goodwill visit where he told the locals, "We're going to treat you well."

The elder Trump has seriously proposed acquiring the mineral-rich Danish territory in the interest of U.S. national security, but the reaction from local officials has been defiant.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has called Trump's fixation on acquiring the Arctic nation "absurd," and reiterated this week that "Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders."

She added, “There is a lot of support among the people of Greenland that Greenland is not for sale and will not be in the future either."

Earlier this week, Trump declared he wouldn't exclude using economic or military force to take territory, prompting Greenlandic Prime Minister Múte Bourup Egede to declare Trump's proposal was just a distraction.

“While others, including Danes and Americans, are entitled to their opinions, we should not be caught up in the hysteria and external pressures distract us from our path,” he said.

Lynge addressed Trump directly in the Politico article, saying, "We know how they treat the Inuit in Alaska. Make that great before trying to invade us.”

Read the POLITICO article here.